Engaged Leadership: Thriving in Divided Times

REGISTRATION LIMITED TO ALF SENIOR FELLOWS, FELLOWS, & INVITED GUESTS.

Please join us for an experiential, restorative retreat, where we explore six core capacities that support leaders to thrive in these transformational times. Based on the 6 Dimensions of Engaged Leadership “compass” we will delve into practices and principles that strengthen our ability to 1) cultivate presence 2) be self-reflective 3) open our hearts and extend compassion 4) create respectful boundaries 5) expand our emotional range 6) bring a lens of equity and cultural responsiveness to our work and personal lives. Together, we will engage with questions connecting with critical themes of our times: How do we lead for equity and justice in a divided nation? How do we create workplace and community cultures of belonging and connection? How do we sustain and nourish ourselves when we are attending to so much?

This retreat will include mindfulness, structured listening and speaking practices, storytelling, personal reflection, and breakout dialogues. Our intention is that participants come away inspired, refreshed, and renewed–with a deeper sense of connection to self and others and with practices they can use in their personal lives and workplaces.

Please join Laura Weaver, ALF Silicon Valley lead facilitator, and Scott van Loo, Guest Facilitator, Founder of Cedar Tree Consulting: providing equity, engagement and leadership experiences, for this 2021 retreat.

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Laura Weaver, MA is an author, non-profit director, leadership consultant, and group facilitator with twenty-five years of experience in non-profit and social change work, leadership, education, health and writing. She currently serves as the Director of Transformative Learning at the PassageWorks Institute—a non-profit dedicated to creating meaningful, inclusive and engaging school cultures based on the integration of Social and Emotional Learning, Mindfulness, Equity, and a Whole Systems Approach to change.

Laura’s writing history includes lead authoring The 5 Dimensions of Engaged Teaching (Solution Tree, 2013), publishing a poetry collection entitled Luminous (Soul Passages Press, 2018), co-authoring four curricula for the K-12 transitions years, serving as the lead writer for the PassageWorks blog, and publishing dozens of book chapters and essays on topics ranging from school-based rites of passage to leadership to sustainability in the Amazon. Over the last two decades, Laura has taught over a hundred courses, trainings and workshops, offered keynotes and presentations at schools and conferences, consulted with dozens of schools and districts across the country, and facilitated transitions and rites of passage programs for young people. She has also guided transformational journeys to the Ecuadorian rainforest for Pachamama Alliance.

Laura is passionate about supporting individuals and systems to transform from the inside out to create a more meaningful, compassionate, sustainable and equitable world. Before joining PassageWorks Institute in 2004, Laura taught Literature and Creative Writing for four years at the University of Colorado and founded and directed Bridges—an all-volunteer agency serving the needs of homeless communities in the greater Philadelphia region. Laura earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Trinity College in Connecticut and her Master’s Degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Scott van Loo is the Director of the Learning Effectiveness Program (LEP) at the University of Denver and the founder and president of Cedar Tree Consulting. He has over 26 years of experience in pk-16 education including elementary and high school teaching and central and building-level administration with a background in Special Education, English Language Learners, Homeless Education, Equity and Diversity training and parent programs. Scott is the former Director of the César Chavez Cultural Center at the University of Northern Colorado where he helped recruit, retain and support hundreds of Latino(a) students and helped create several endowed student scholarships. He has been a facilitator with the National Coalition for Equity in Education, Respecting Ethnic and Cultural Heritage Center, the Anti-Defamation League and the Generating Expectations for Student Achievement program.

Scott has a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies: Music and Business, an M.A. in Special Education, master’s level courses in Educational Leadership including a Principal’s license and is currently working on a Doctorate in Organizational Development.